solar decathlon

New York
Institute of Technology (NYIT) was chosen to be one of 20 teams represented at
the 2005 Solar Decathlon. The Solar Decathlon
is a United Stated Department of Energy (USDOE) sponsored event where student
designed and built homes are showcased on the National Mall in Washington, DC and
judged in ten categories based on architecture, energy performance, and
affordability, among others, all while using energy exclusively from the
sun.

NYIT’s 2005 entry,
“Green Machine and Blue Space” was named based on its configuration, which
relates to a traditional Dog-Trot house.
The “Green Machine” is an up-cycled shipping container that contains all
the working parts of a home and could, in theory, be used in any location to
serve any building or function. Alternatively,
the “Blue Space”, which contains the homes living and sleeping spaces, is
intended to be regionally adaptable. The
built design was created for the North Eastern United States, which is the
permanent location of the home. Both
the “Green Machine” and “Blue Space” are linked by the “and” a small breezeway
that contributes to the homes natural ventilation strategy and brings in
daylight.

While the
"Green Machine" was built using the shell of an old shipping
container, with new soy based spray foam insulation to provide an efficient
building envelope, the "Blue Space" took a different approach. The living space was built using Agriboard, a
Structurally Insulated Panel (SIP) system using only agricultural products. Meanwhile the "and" space was
constructed largely of glass. Within the
space was an energy storage system used by no other teams in the
competition.

After
completion of Construction Documents the student team built the home on the
Westbury, NY Campus of NYIT where it was able to work out some kinks and make
final decisions before moving the house to Washington, DC for the
competition. The house was broken down
into six separate modules and transported by truck for the two week
competition.

During the
competition the NYIT team scored third in the Architecture competition, where
the judges noted how the house "got it right" The system
works by producing Hydrogen on-site using an Electrolyzer to convert water into
its elemental components: Hydrogen and
Oxygen, then collecting the Hydrogen for use later in the day an releasing the
Oxygen. When possible all electric loads
used energy coming directly from the sun, when this wasn't possible, due to
increased loads or lack of sun, the stored Hydrogen was used in a Hydrogen Fuel
Cell, which combines the stored Hydrogen with Oxygen in the atmosphere generating
electricity with the only byproducts being heat and water. While this technology had been used in the
past it was never before used to power a home. concerning natural
ventilation. The team also scored fifth in
Energy Balance, an accomplishment given experimental technology used in
"Green Machine and Blue Space".
Where most teams used standard lead acid batteries to store energy
provided by the sun for use in the evening the NYIT team decided to explore a
different route and selected a more innovative and less polluting
technology. The team decided to use Hydrogen
fuel for energy storage. While Hydrogen
is a non-polluting fuel which eliminates the highly polluting batteries used in
the other homes it is currently a less efficient technology, putting the NYIT
team at a disadvantage from the start.

"Green
Machine and Blue Space" placed a respectable fifth place overall at the
2005 Solar Decathlon, after which the house was broken down and re-built at its
current location on the campus of the Merchant Marine Academy in Great Neck, NY.